


A soul is made up of many parts

by Queens_Prerogative



Series: Now that we found you, you can't just disappear [4]
Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV)
Genre: Carrie Wilson Redemption, Gen, Good Person Bobby | Trevor Wilson, M/M, Mentioned Bobby | Trevor Wilson, Mentioned Flynn (Julie and The Phantoms), Willie features in text messages but doesn't actually appear
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:00:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28433541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queens_Prerogative/pseuds/Queens_Prerogative
Summary: “When Julie’s mom died, we were fourteen.” He tensed but he didn’t run. “We were just kids; I didn’t know what grieving was. I dealt with it so wrong, I know that now, but I will never forget how I treated Julie and Flynn.”Carrie mends fences and starts building relationships with the former phantoms, one interaction at a time.
Relationships: Alex Mercer & Carrie Wilson, Alex Mercer & Julie Molina & Luke Patterson & Reggie Peters, Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Flynn & Julie Molina & Carrie Wilson, Luke Patterson & Carrie Wilson, Reggie Peters & Carrie Wilson
Series: Now that we found you, you can't just disappear [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2028221
Comments: 1
Kudos: 51





	A soul is made up of many parts

Alex loved cell phones. They were on his list of Top 5 Things That Rocked About 2020, the others being the band, his found family (which included the band, but also extended to Ray, Carlos, and Flynn), Willie, and _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._ Cell phones meant he could text or talk to anyone he wanted, no matter where he was. Emojis were their own language. Auto-correct was evil, but Flynn quickly showed him how to disable that, so he was happy.

Willie: _can i teach you to skate yet?_

Alex: _i will injure myself. i do not have coordination_

Willie: _i would never let that happen hotdog_

That _ridiculous_ nickname never failed to make him grin like a “lovestruck idiot”, according to Luke, who was in no position to talk because he tripped down the stairs yesterday because Julie laughed. She hadn’t even been _in the house_ , but Luke had heard and fallen nonetheless.

Alex: _then i say maybe_

Alex: _MAYBE_

Alex: _like not yes but also not no_

Willie: _i know what maybe means_

Willie: _skate park at 1 tomoz. Dnt b l8!_

Alex: _i said maybe!!!!_

_Seen: 17:46_

Apparently he was learning to skate. Maybe he could go along and just watch Willie. That was something he definitely didn’t have a problem with and, if he found a sturdy surface with a back to it, he could sit down and not fall over whenever Willie did something hot. Which was always. He was always hot. It was so distracting when Alex needed to _breathe_.

The studio door banged open and he let out a squeal and then a yelp of pain when he landed ass-first on the ground, narrowly avoiding the coffee table. Trying not to go into cardiac arrest, he glanced up, expecting Luke. Reggie was rambunctious, yeah, but he didn’t slam doors because loud noises made him anxious. Julie didn’t enter rooms anything but gracefully, even when she was mad, which was impressive given their first meeting. Everyone else was sedate, except Luke. Luke always meant well but he did get carried away, thus Alex expecting him.

It was not Luke. It was Carrie. Alex hadn’t interacted much with Carrie in the month he’d been alive again. Her focus had been her dad and getting a long-awaited explanation for his weird behaviour. Then when that had happened, she had been set on repairing her relationship with Julie and Flynn, and learning everything about the ghost situation. The only times she’d interacted with Alex, Reggie, and Luke had been when she’d stop by to pick Julie and/or Flynn up from band practice for a bonding activity. Those conversations hadn’t been so much conversations as they were awkwardly polite greetings.

Carrie looked a mess. Her hair was tangled up like she’d been raking at it with her fingers, and her eye make-up was smudged as if she’d been crying, or just come home from a rave without using fixing spray (another awesome invention, it helped Reggie’s eyeliner stay in place). Immediately, Alex felt the need to comfort override any sort of heart failure he was experiencing. He approached cautiously but still made noise so he didn’t startle her. He didn’t like being touched when he was panicking, so he avoided direct contact. She looked at him with watery eyes.

“Hey. I’m Alex,” he said. He didn’t want to just assume she knew his name based on their limited interactions. He also didn’t want her to feel bad for forgetting, if she had forgotten.

“Alex,” she said, as if testing it in her mouth. “I’m Carrie.”

“Do you want to sit, Carrie?”

“Yes, I should sit.” He still didn’t touch her, but she followed his steps to the sofa. They sat down on either end. “I’m sorry I haven’t spoken to you much.”

“You don’t have to apologise. You’ve had a _lot_ going on.” And that was coming from him, being resurrected and all. Her entire life had been turned upside down.

“I still feel like I should. Now that I’ve got Julie and Flynn back, nothing is easy to ignore or push away anymore.” Yep, Julie and Flynn had that affect on people. “So, I feel a bit bad about not getting to know the important people in their lives.”

“Is that why you’ve been crying?”

“No.” He handed her some tissues and the red compact Flynn had gotten Reggie as a “welcome to the world of the living gift”. Carrie silently cleaned herself up and Alex waited. Pushing people was not the way to get answers. “My dad always told me that the panel in his studio was because sunsets were the most beautiful part of any day. I just thought he meant literally but now . . . now, I know he meant you guys.”

That was . . . wow. It was kind of like being punched in the chest with grief and love. He almost exhaled too sharply, and he wanted to twitch like he _had_ been punched. Bobby had had the most stable relationship with his family out of their band which, admittedly, wasn’t saying much. He’d been taken in by his grandparents when his parents died, and his house (now the Molina house) had been their safe space. That didn’t stop him from being understanding and supportive when the rest of their families turned out to be shit. It had been Reggie that said band practice was the most beautiful part of his day. Bobby had come up with the name Sunset Curve after that.

“You were – are – important to him too,” Carrie said shakily. Alex met her gaze head on and nearly winced at the heartbroken trembling of her lips.

“It’s weird, isn’t it?” She chuckled wetly.

“He told me everything, all the stories.” Any light she’d regained fell away tragically. “You could have been my uncle.” Her nose wrinkled and he couldn’t stop a startled laugh. It was definitely weird. He had to change the subject.

“Do you do your own choreography?”

“Uh – yeah. I used to get a choreographer but then I learned how to do it myself. Why?”

“You’re crazy good, you know that? And your songs are bops.” That was a phrase Julie had taught him last week. Carrie’s entire face lit up in a smile and her eyes grew bright with the kind of pride Alex saw in Luke when he created something.

“You think so?”

“Absolutely. I danced with you the night of Eats and Beats.”

“You . . . but Julie and Flynn were there.”

“Yes.”

“Julie could see you.”

“Yes.”

“And you did it anyway?”

“I had a great time.” And he had. It had been a fantastic night, even without the JATP performance. Carrie beamed at him.

“If you want, Dirty Candy have a rehearsal tomorrow. You can join.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Sometimes I think the girls are scared to say when something isn’t working; it would be good to have a fresh set of eyes.”

“That’d be awesome.”

“Tomorrow morning at ten?”

“Sure. I’m meeting my – Willie tomorrow at one. Is that okay?”

“Duh.” She stood up and fluffed her hair back into less of a wreck. With her fixed smudges and smoother hair, it was nigh impossible to tell she’d been crying. “Thanks, Alex.”

“Any time, Carrie.”

XXX

Reggie was _exhausted_. He never thought he’d find a time when he was relieved that he didn’t have band practice, but one had arrived. Mia was absolutely adorable and he worshipped her, but _god_ , she never ran out of energy. Hunter was days away from giving birth, so he was looking at more hours. That was good for his income. It was bad for his social life and all-round sleep pattern.

Who was he kidding? He didn’t have a sleep pattern.

After four hours of chasing Mia around the park, and then wearing more of her lunch than she actually ingested, the last thing he wanted to think about was homework. But apparently living teenage boys had to go to high school. Like everything else in their lives, they just seemed to be magically enrolled at Los Feliz High School. The story had been that Reggie and Alex were fostered by Ray – who knew the full story now, yay! – and they had joined at the beginning of the school year. Luke had transferred from out of state to live with his grandparents, apparently. None of them remembered any of it, but the entire school seemed to know. It worked. Somehow.

He had chemistry homework. He was pretty sure he had calculus too, and probably English. He really should listen to Alex when he said _write things down_. Resigned to a fun-free Saturday afternoon, he trudged through the front door of the Molina-Mercer-Peters residence (it was so cool that he had a residence and that he looked forward to coming home). Luke, naturally, was raiding the fridge. He could hear Julie on the phone upstairs. Flynn’s stuff was by the door but she was nowhere to be seen. Alex would still be out with Willie, Reggie guessed. It was only two o’clock.

“Hey Carrie,” Reggie said warmly to the lone person in the living room. He loved meeting new people, and she was essentially a new person, which meant he didn’t have the personality or the energy to be awkward. So, he collapsed face-first on the sofa. There was a faint giggle.

“Reggie, right?”

“That’s me.” His voice was muffled by the cushion and his face was getting warm. But he could still breathe, and therefore he couldn’t bring himself to move.

“Are you joining our study session?”

“English?”

“Calculus.” Despite the girls being sophomores where the guys were juniors, he figured it would be productive to study alongside them. He definitely hadn’t been focused on school during the last year of his life. It was a good thing he was “repeating” junior year.

“Yeah, if it’s okay?”

“Totally fine with me. Flynn is impossible when math is involved, so I could use the backup.” He snorted into the pillow. It was easy to picture.

“And you think I’m good backup?”

“Better than Julie. For every minute she pays attention, there are five spent doodling. And Captain Biceps is coming too, so her focus will be very split.” Reggie adjusted his head so he was looking at her properly. There was a twinkle in her eye that he’d never seen – as a ghost or as an alive person. It was amusement.

“Luke?”

“Yep.” She popped the “p”.

“This is going to be very unproductive.”

“I tried to convince Alex to ditch his date to help wrangle them, but he said he’d rather have a conversation with Caleb again than join us.”

“Rude.”

“Yet accurate.”

“Still. Where is Flynn?”

“In the studio. She left her notes there yesterday. Of course, she went to get them ten minutes ago, so she might just not come back.”

“I’ll go and get her.” He groaned as various joints and bones popped and cracked when he stood up. _Ouch_. Julie hopped down the stairs and beamed at him. “Perfect timing. You can convince Luke to stop eating and come study.”

“I think you’re overestimating my abilities.”

“Girl, you just need to _look_ at him and he’d do anything you asked!” Carrie said through giggles. Julie turned crimson when Luke rounded the corner and slung an arm over her shoulder. Aw, they were so cute and why weren’t they dating? Oh yeah. They were both morons.

“What’re we talking about?” Luke asked.

“The probability of getting Flynn to do calculus homework,” Reggie said, sparing Julie from fainting. “BRB, folks.”

“Calculus sucks. At least English hasn’t changed much in 25 years,” Luke grumbled when Reggie headed for the kitchen.

“That’s rich coming from someone that doesn’t know what LOL means,” Julie countered.

“I meant _studying_ English. It’s still old books by dead people.”

“He’s got us there,” Carrie said dryly. Reggie grinned to himself and went to the studio. It was going to be a long day.

XXX

_The truth is finally ~~coming~~ breaking (showing?) through_

_~~My our your~~ _ _Two worlds ~~combine~~ collide when I’m with you_

_Our voices ~~sing cry join~~ rise and soar???? so high??_

Music was Luke’s soul. Every beat of his heart came with a new thought, every blink of his eyes brought fresh ideas. His mind was a constant stream of possibilities; words, melodies, harmonies, all forming songs. He didn’t know when it started, but all his new creations were tailor-made for Julie’s range. And she was their frontwoman now. She was their light and she deserved to have it shone on her too.

He’d been working on the same song for four days. It was a duet and a love song – both things that he wasn’t used to. Frankly, he was losing his mind. But when he got that spark, he chased it until it was a flame. Music was _emotion_ and he had lots of those for Julie. It just wasn’t coming out right.

His thoughts were quite literally ripped away when someone snatched his notebook. Immediately on the offensive, he surged to his feet, only to be stopped short by Carrie Wilson. She was covered in a sheen of sweat, her hair tied back in a tight ponytail, and she was wearing running clothes. He let her have five seconds to remove headphones from her ears (wind-pods or airphones or something) before he lunged for the book. She gave it back instantly.

“Easy, Patterson, you’ll injure yourself.” Despite his clear desire for her to _go away_ , she started stretching using the bench. Of all the parks in LA, he had to choose the one she ran in. “How do you even read your handwriting?”

“It’s not that bad,” he said, holding the notebook protectively. He was wrong, which he knew. His handwriting was terrible.

“To cavemen, maybe. You look like you’ve got some serious writer’s block going.”

“What’s it to you?” Why wouldn’t she just jog on? Literally?

“I know the signs. You’re in a new location, you were one fidget away from hanging upside down off the bench, and you’ve got two pens stuck behind your ear which I think you’ve forgotten about.” His hand jumped to his ear. Sure enough, there were two pens. Dammit.

“It’s none of your business.”

“Okay, we’re playing that game.” She flipped her hair over her shoulder. He didn’t even know how. “What have I ever done to you?” Well, that was easy.

“You were horrible to Julie-.” She sat down.

“I said to _you_ , not to Julie. I get that you boys are super protective, I do, but Julie and Flynn are giving me a second chance. Did it ever occur to you that you haven’t even given me _one_?”

“Should it?”

Luke thought that the sigh Carrie let out was a little bit melodramatic, given everything. He knew – because Alex told him, frequently – that he wasn’t great at making friends, because he didn’t understand people that didn’t love music. That was fair, he thought. It was a guarantee that his friends would be genuine friends. What was wrong with that?

“When Julie’s mom died, we were fourteen.” He tensed but he didn’t run. “We were just kids; I didn’t know what grieving was. I dealt with it so wrong, I know that now, but I will never forget how I treated Julie and Flynn.”

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked. Part of him was worried she’d cry. Part of him felt like he shouldn’t be hearing the story.

“My dad hasn’t talked about it. His therapist would probably say that’s why I had such a hard time dealing with it.” She sniffed and he appreciated her trying to be subtle when she wiped her cheek. “Before she died, I remember that he used to say that Rose was made of music. I clung to that. I wanted to be that. I have worked until my ankles bled and my toes were broken, until all I could drink was honey and lemon tea, and until my hand cramped so much that I learned to be ambidextrous. It never seemed like enough because Julie got to stay in the music program without lifting a finger.”

He wasn’t ready for the understanding that flooded through him and threatened to knock him right off the bench. His teachers used to get so mad because he was more focused on music than academics, and his parents did the same. But his passion was what drove him. If he couldn’t have music, he might as well not have had a soul. The thought of someone getting what he had with no effort . . . it tore at his skin.

“Like what Bobby did.”

“He did help write your songs, but he wasn’t able to write anything good. So, I know that’s because he doesn’t have it anymore, not because he never had it at all. That doesn’t change anything. I’m not stupid. His money pays for the dance studios, and costumes, and recording time. But the legacy he built that I’ve been using? It’s not his.” She sighed. “What I’m saying is that I’m glad Julie found her voice again. It drove me crazy thinking she was “coasting” through the music programme, but she wasn’t, not really. Her legacy will be real.”

“Yours can be real too,” he said, shocking himself. He didn’t take it back, though. It was raw with truth. Carrie’s eyes focused on him and he made himself meet the gaze. They were gleaming with unshed tears. “You’re good, Carrie, _really good_. Don’t let all the drama that’s happened lately take away your passion.”

“Thanks for hearing me out.”

“I guess I needed to hear it.” She smiled faintly and stood up. “Any chance you’re coming to Julie’s tonight? I don’t have a clue what my physics homework is about.”

“I’m just guessing here but . . . maybe, physics?”

“Ha.”

“And I did all my homework yesterday when you were trying to see how many oreos you could get in your mouth.”

“I blame Reggie for that one.”

“Julie loves physics. Ask her for help.” The little wave she gave him made him want to blush. He was blushing. Shit. “Then maybe you’ll be able to finish that song. Bye, Luke!”

“I hate you!”

She already had her stupid wind-pods back in.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been hit with the inspiration train lately! Carrie deserves her redemption, so here it is. I thought it would be too chaotic to have her speak to them all at once, so I separated it out into three separate meetings. It's not necessary to know, but this takes place over three consecutive days. Alex's is on Friday, Reggie's on Saturday, and Luke's on Sunday.
> 
> Hey, if you fancy it, leave a quick note with your thoughts. Thanks for all the support so far on this series!


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